Luke Cromarty
NOTE: This page is not free to edit. Characters are solely owned by ScottyBlue (dA name Ascotia-Bluefleck. Also, Spoilers below.) Luke Jonathan Cromarty was the son of Herb and Bella Cromarty, the younger brother of Susannah Cromarty, and the uncle of Addie Cromarty. Bella and Herb owned a sporting goods/general store which brought in quite a fair amount of money for the time, thanks to Herb's prowess as a busniessman, and both Luke and Susannah were a little spoiled by their parents on that account. Bella died suddenly of pneumonia, when Luke was eleven years old. His rebellious and self-centered sister Susannah, who was the spitting image of her mother and whom her father doted on for that reason, instantly started taking advantage of her father and making life miserable for everyone in the Cromarty household. Luke was insanely jealous of his sister and passionately devoted to his father, and it constantly infuriated him to see her in trouble and/or arrested, only to have their father rush to her defense and rescue time and time again. She also laughed at her little brother's obsession with protecting their father, whom she had no respect for and thought unworthy of protecting. Even though Herb loved Luke and never mistreated him, Luke was so obsessively jealous of his sister and protective of his father, he became paranoid to the point of near-schizophrenia whenever it seemed his sister was influencing their father in any way. This paranoia reached the point that he began to suspect Susannah was behind the scenes trying to make him and Herb miserable in various manipulative ways, whenever anything went wrong in his life. Herb never realized things had gone that far in Luke's paranoia, but he was aware Luke was unhappy due to Susannah's laughing at him and taking so much attention away from him. When Susannah disappeared for a year, had a baby out of wedlock, and then returned to basically dump the baby girl on her father's doorstep, Herb finally realized he had to do something. He warned Susannah that no more money would be forthcoming unless she ceased her wild ways and settled down to be a proper mother to her daughter. Susannah rebelled, running away and disowning her father. Luke was immensely relieved, and spent the next several years being the best and most devoted son to his father that he could, trying to make up for the misery Susannah had caused them both. However, inside, he was a twisted and bitter person, who now had the idea that he deserved whatever he wanted for all he had had to put up with before. He was indifferent to his niece, whom Herb hired a nanny to raise, and thought that finally he had found some peace in his life. He did not fight in the first World War, seeing the conflict as not his problem. About three years after Susannah left, a letter arrived from her. The letter basically stated that she had no intention of ever coming back, or going straight, and had made her choices in life though she was finally getting a hair of conscience about it. She asked her father to help someone she had met in the city, who had been mixed up in crime against his will and was trying to go straight and get a decent job. Herb met Ross DeAndrea, took a liking to he simple and honest fellow, and much to Luke's absolute horror offered him a job. Luke, of course, saw this as Susannah laughing at him and manipulating things to steal Herb's attention from him, again. While he was indifferent to their new secretary in others' presence, whenever he and DeAndrea were alone, Luke made DeAndrea know that he despised him and was sure he was a crook and up to no good. Luke tried to get his mind off things by going out with Brenda Gilbert, who was the prettiest girl in town and who he thought he deserved. She was never all that fond of him, however, and when in private conversation DeAndrea told her how Luke mistreated him and was secretly a bitter and dangerous person, Brenda immediately broke off the courtship. Luke was absolutely furious, even more so when he found out it was DeAndrea that was the reason Brenda left him. His twisted mind saw, yet again, Susannah persecuting him, this time vicariously through DeAndrea. The feeling of helplessness and rage consumed him. When Luke discovered Brenda was going out with Cletus Hill, a badly shell-shocked and (to Luke's mind) undesirable veteran of the first World War, he saw an opportunity to have just a little power for once in his life, and also get a little revenge for Brenda having thrown him over. He started blackmailing them, threatening to use his money and influence to get one or both of them in some kind of legal trouble. The young and struggling couple were terrified and paid him whatever he wanted, and he enjoyed the feeling of being in control. Luke did not know that his father took his excitable behavior and secret assignations to mean that Luke was being blackmailed, and started to worry about his son very much. Herb, after several years of faithful service on DeAndrea's part, offerend him a partnership in the business. Luke broke into a panic, then, unwilling to let that happen, as it would be Susannah's final victory against him, in his mind. He told Cletus and Brenda, who had no money left, they had to help him get DeAndrea fired in any way they could. However, he met his match there. They both refused to get an innocent person in trouble, and had had enough of Luke and decided to brave it out this time. Brenda confronted Luke alone and Luke tried to attack her in blind rage. She beat him off with a fireplace poker and fled. Luke, unaware the confrontation had been seen by Frankie Hill, a friend of his little niece, tried to stagger home before his father found out he'd left. En route, he found Herb's lifeless body. Herb had followed Luke to find out what was wrong with his son and fallen victim to a tragic accident. Luke could not let this tragedy go as simply tragedy. His mind almost instantly twisted it to mean Susannah had something to do with it, as did DeAndrea, and that they deserved to pay for what they had done. He manipulated the crime scene to make it look like murder, then set back and let DeAndrea take the fall for it, adding a helpful lie here and there, so the Italian would be hanged. Still bitter and broken from losing the only person besides himself he loved, Luke packed his niece off to boarding school and continued the business, alone. He was unhappy, but felt secure that he had got away with the perfect murder by getting DeAndrea hanged. He tried to find a suitable revenge for Brenda and Cletus, as well, but they had fled out of state and out of his reach. He set himself to running the store, deciding that was all he had left. During the trial, Luke had discovered he and Brenda were seen, but Frankie had mistaken Luke for his father, and no one believed the story anyway. However, about 17 years later, Luke's security was crushed when he learned through an acquaintance that Frankie, who had never been satisfied that DeAndrea was a killer, and who now was a detective, had started digging into the case. He had found Brenda and Cletus, and they had told him about the blackmail. He had also found Susannah, and she had told that she suspected frankly that her brother had either killed their father or been an accessory. It didn't take him too long to start to find other proofs that might get Luke convicted of perjury or even manslaughter. Luke, again forced into a panic, immediately set out to kill Frankie. He shot at him, one foggy night, and watched as the body fell into a river and floated away. He tried again to hunt down Cletus and Brenda but still couldn't find them, but reasoned that no one else would find them either. He did find Susannah, finally, and one dark night took out his final rage upon her, strangling her in her apartment. Because of Susannah's lifestyle and many amorous flings, he figured - correctly - that the crime would be put down to a jealous lover. Once again, he felt secure, though still miserable and bitter. However, his security was shaken again when Frankie's sister Ruthanne Hill carried on where her brother had left off, following the clues Frankie had left. She barged into the shop one night, telling Luke she knew all and demanded that he confess to his crimes. Luke cockily confessed because he felt safe no one would overhear, and also because he had all his anger and pent up frustration inside that he just wanted to finally vent to someone. Ruthanne accused him of beign crazy for obsessively claiming the whole thing was Susannah's fault, and saying that Luke brought all his troubles on himself. Luke angrily then tried to shoot her as well. However, Frankie was actually still alive, and the whole thing was a setup. Frankie and other detectives and police came in after hearing his confession to the attempted murder, and seeing the attempted murder of Ruthanne. When Luke saw Frankie come in, his already fragile mental state reached the limit. He broke down completely and irreversibly, thinking Frankie was a ghost come back to torment him. He was never charged with the murder of Susannah, as there was next to no evidence, but he was charged for the perjury and attempted murders, and fined the inheritance money that would have been DeAndrea's, which he essentially stole by getting DeAndrea hanged. The money was given to DeAndrea's only surviving relative, and Luke Cromarty spent the rest of his days in a mental institute. Category:In Memory of Frankie Hill Characters